Miguel
History Miguel is a mystical shaman. He runs around town holding the ‘Death’ card from a Tarot deck, also known as the thirteenth trump or ‘Major Arcana’ card. He holds it up to people’s faces to see if it’s meant for them. He carries out the orders of The Dust Witch and lives in a tent in the sand dunes area, associated with voodoo and interacts with characters in the Outside the Gates scenario. Appearance Black eyeliner, wears a black or brown waistcoat over a bare chest and loose trousers (sometimes with an oversized suit jacket and a hat), occasionally seen in disguise as one of the scarecrows at the funeral. Loop - Basic - Found by Lila in sand dune. (Desert) - Long dance with Lila (Desert) - Chased by Andy (Motel Room) - Dances on roofs with Andy (Town) - Drugstore dance with Andy (Drugstore) - Disappears in phone booth (Drugstore) - Flees through secret panel (Seamstress Store) - Dances and picks up package (Woods) - Gives Badlands Jack package (Outside Trailers) - Anointed by the Dust Witch (Desert) - Washes in tent (Desert)* - Sleeps in tent (Desert) - Dwayne arrives in the desert and has a stand off with Miguel, fighting by the sand dune. Eventually they call it quits and Miguel fetches two wooden boxes from beside his tent and a bottle of whiskey. They sit down and drink until Faye arrives. Both Miguel and Dwayne flirt with Faye, beckoning her to sit next to them. The music 'Catalina La O' begins. Faye dances flirtatiously with them, taking off her shoes and running up and down the sand dune. Eventually Miguel dances with her alone and there is the loud sound of a train thundering past. After Faye has left, Miguel puts the boxes and whiskey back in his tent and takes Faye's shoes down to the bar for the hoedown. - Dances in Hoedown (Saloon) - Dances aggressively with Faye (through Street) - Spurns Faye (Harry's Motel Room) - Picks up Mary's clothes, looks scared (William & Mary's house) - 1:1: puts on scarecrow costume (Desert - Office Room) - Dances on dune (Red Moon Motel) - Funeral ritual (Desert) - Removes scarecrow disguise and disappears through door (Desert) Loop - Extended His loop begins when Lila slowly and quietly appears out of the mist to pull him from the sand dune next to the ‘Red Moon Motel’ sign. They share a long passionate dance across the desert, both of them spinning over and over. They skip between pools of light, twirling around each other. He covers her with sand, spraying it like water with his hands. He seems to know her fate and he gives her a postcard. She understands its meaning and she heads off on a mysterious journey. Miguel walks downstairs and wanders about observing the townspeople. He runs through Andy’s motel room and Andy chases him. They climb up the side of William and Mary’s shack and scamper across the roof. They keep running and end up in the diner, where Drugstore Girl is minding the counter. She looks on in wonder as the two powerful men perform a spellbinding dance around the tables and chairs. Andy crashes out on one of the stools near the barber’s counter. Miguel wearing a waistcoat and eyeliner, trickles white powder through his fingertips and extracts a single grain of corn from a pouch, and Andy is bewitched. Miguel places Andy in a trance, and then suddenly runs into a phone booth and disappears. He flees through a secret panel into the Seamstress’ Shop next door and reappears in the street. He floats in the woods like a wild cat. He climbs a tree and pulls out a package from near the top. He hides behind a trailer, sitting on a broken leather chair. Badlands Jack appears and they tussle. Miguel puts his hand around Jack’s throat and pushes the package in his face. He returns to the desert and meets The Dust Witch, who anoints him by smearing his body and face with black and white paints. His file in the Drafting Room mentions the scene – it likens him to ‘Baron Samedi’, one of the ‘Loa’ or spirits, of Haitian Voodoo. Samedi is a Loa of the dead and is married to Maman Brigitte. Some nights Miguel gestures to an audience member to perform the ritual. He smears the woman’s mask with the same markings. After his anointment, he spins around over the sand and senses that the dune is the place of a terrible event. He reaches out to a woman from the audience and makes her crawl with him into his tiny tent. He takes a filthy sponge and dips it into a shallow metal tub of water. Black dirt runs down his face as she cleans his arms. He takes her hand and presses it against his chest. He becomes calmer and breathes more slowly, and he kisses her from her wrist to the nape of her neck. He pulls out a bottle of liquor and they both take a swig. He gestures for the woman to leave and he falls asleep in the tent. Later, he sits alone in the desert using a series of wooden crates as a makeshift table and chairs. Dwayne approaches and the two cowboys share a bottle of liquor as ‘Catalina La O’ plays in the background. Faye appears through the dark and dances for them on a sand dune. The men are drunk and they fight for her attention. The music intensifies and the sound of a train rumbles over the speakers, as Dwayne becomes more and more enraged. He snaps and throws himself at Miguel. Faye runs off laughing and heads for the Tavern, leaving her shoes behind. Miguel picks them up and calls after her, but she’s gone. He makes his way downstairs, through the town, and meets up with her at the bar where everyone is gathering for the ‘Day of the Dead’ hoedown. He returns her shoes and they dance together. The party breaks down as William sees Mary and Dwayne together through the window. Miguel and Faye head off into town. They cavort and dance through the streets, and Faye climbs a pile of boxes outside the Grocery. She leans into Miguel who holds her up while dancing around the crates. They pass William and Mary’s house and Miguel stops. He senses something and whispers ‘Mary’, his eyes full of sadness. Faye pulls him towards her and into her motel room. He lies on the bed and she undresses. While her back is turned, Miguel suddenly rushes out of the room. He runs across the street and finds Mary, half-naked and confused. He confirms that the ‘Death’ card is for her and is crestfallen. He puts her to sleep in her bed and leaves. He picks up her discarded clothes and cradles them in his arms. He wants to save her, but knows he can’t and so he abandons her, leaving her easy prey for William's madness. He walks up the stairs to the desert and performs an expressive solo dance. He twitches and jerks and punches his heart. An invisible string pulls his finger across the sand and he writes ‘MARY’ in large letters. Gasping for breath, he walks towards a row of filthy abandoned rooms near the ‘Red Moon Motel’ sign. He dashes into a derelict office containing broken typewriters and a scarecrow sitting alone at a desk. He begins to change into a scarecrow costume, handing a young woman his mask, split in two halves like a coconut. He ushers the other audience members out of the room and he closes the door. 1:1 The two of them are alone and he takes off the woman’s mask. He takes her hand and rolls it around as if he’s searching for something. He gestures for her to crouch with him on the floor in front of a tatty wooden sideboard. He opens it and produces a dirty, headless cloth doll, which he gives to the woman. He takes a bread roll and breaks it open and a headshot of Mary tumbles out. He opens a jar of thick black ointment and places a blot in the centre of the woman’s forehead. He hands her the jar for her to do the same in return. He takes a pot of dust and tips it into the woman’s hands. He blows and a cloud floats up. He smears some dust into her skin, rubbing it in until it disappears. Suddenly, he puts his hands around her neck and whispers in her ear, ‘Two will die’. Outside by the submerged neon sign, William is strangling Mary. The two victims Miguel foresees could be Mary and Marshall or Mary and William – one interpretation of the original play has Woyzeck committing murder and then suicide. Miguel passes the woman a small pile of Mary’s clothes – a printed skirt and blouse, a rusty red cardigan, a pair of loafers and the black and white headshot perched on top. He rushes out of the room taking the woman with him. ‘They make their own gallows’ he cries, as he runs past a crowd of onlookers. He arrives at the shrine in front of the scarecrow congregation. He gestures for the woman to lay down Mary’s clothes. He puts on his mask and takes a seat amongst the straw men. As he breathes, his feather eye moves slowly up and down. Nearby, Andy is distraught and falls on the sand in front of the altar of dried flowers. Miguel rises from his seat and creeps up on him. He takes him in his arms as shards of light filter through the tiny holes in the sides of the corrugated church. He lies Andy down next to his tent, takes off his scarecrow mask and disappears. Final Show Trivia In ‘The Day of the Locust’, Miguel is a cowboy who runs a cock-fighting racket and there are allusions to this in the desert. In the Drafting Room, the file on Miguel calls him a ‘gypsy boy’. It says that when he first meets Lila, he’s enchanted by her innocence and wants to help her. He tells her the way to George Buchanan’s house. His pouch looks like an amulet or ‘gris-gris’, which is a voodoo charm. It’s normally worn around the neck and originates from Africa. It’s believed to protect the wearer from evil or injury, and consists of a small cloth bag, usually inscribed with verses from the Qur'an, and a ritual number of small objects. Quotes References Category:Characters